United Athletic Conference

Sacramento State's Dawsen Bacho and UT Rio Grande Valley's Jesus Aldaz have been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter and Pitcher of the Week, respectively, for April 11 – April 17.

 

Bacho, a senior catcher from Novato, Calif., had multiple hits in all three WAC games against Seattle U to lead the Hornets to the series win. In the first game, he was 2-for-4 from the plate with three runs scored in a 15-5 win. On Friday, he was 3-for-4 in a losing effort but the Hornets bounced back in the finale as Bacho was 2-for-5 with a pair of home runs, six RBIs and two runs scored in a 7-4 win.

 

Aldaz, a junior right-hander from Phoenix, finished one strikeout short of his career high while going six innings to earn the victory in a win over NM State on Sunday afternoon. Finishing with 10 punchouts and just one walk allowed, he allowed two runs on five hits to pick up the decision. In addition to all five hits allowed being singles, he struck out the final batter of every inning he was on the hill.

 

Other Hitter of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Bash Randle  hit his fifth and sixth home runs of the year as the Wildcats earned a midweek win over UTA before taking two-of-three at Fresno State … California Baptist's David Martin had a hit in all four games and finished the week with four RBIs and a .368 batting average … Dixie State's Tyler Hollow hit .438 on the week as the Trailblazers salvaged their WAC series with Utah Valley with a Saturday win … Grand Canyon's Juan Colato posted three two-hit games as the Lopes picked up a series win over California Baptist … Lamar's Reese Durand led the Cardinals to a pair of wins up in Oklahoma, going 5-for-8 with four RBIs and five runs scored in a 13-2 win over Pacific and a 14-11 win over the host Sooners … NM State's Kevin Jimenez hit .615 on the week as the Aggies fell to Arizona and UT Rio Grande Valley … UT Rio Grande Valley's Brett Cain had a career-high five hits, adding four RBIs and three runs scored, in the Vaqueros' 13-8 win at NM State on Saturday … Utah Valley's Kyle Coburn hit .500 on the week, including 3-for-3 with three RBIs and a pair of runs scored in Friday's 12-8 win over Dixie State.

 

Other Pitcher of the Week nominees: Abilene Christian's Genner Cervantes had his longest outing of the season and earned the win at Fresno State, allowing one run on four hits over 6.1 inning with seven strikeouts and a pair of walks … California Baptist's Spencer Bengard turned in a pair of strong outings, earning the win in a start at Long Beach State and then throwing an inning of relief in a win at Grand Canyon … Dixie State's Justin Woodbury picked up the win in relief on Saturday at Utah Valley, striking out three over two no-hit innings in an 8-5 victory … Grand Canyon's Daniel Avitia recorded his second-straight outing with 10-plus strikeouts, fanning 10 and walking two over 7.1 innings to earn the win over California Baptist on Friday night … Sacramento State's Jack Zalasky picked up his fourth save of the season, striking out six and allowing just one hit over three innings in Saturday's 7-4 win over Seattle U … Utah Valley's Josh Brown made a pair of appearances, earning the save on Thursday in a win over Dixie State.

 

In midweek action on Tuesday, Stephen F. Austin hosts Grambling, Sam Houston travels to Baylor, Tarleton hosts Wiley, UTRGV hosts UIW, NM State hosts Benedictin Mesa and Sacramento State travels to Pacific. On Wednesday, Lamar hosts Houston Baptist, Seattle U hosts Washington State, Stephen F. Austin hosts UAPB and Utah Valley travels to UC Riverside. Weekend action begins on Thursday with Grand Canyon playing at San Diego State, where the Lopes will also play 12th-ranked Stanford on a neutral field. In WAC play, Lamar hosts Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton hosts Sam Houston, Abilene Christian hosts UT Rio Grande Valley, Seattle U hosts NM State, Dixie State hosts Sacramento State and California Baptist hosts Utah Valley.

 

California Baptist holds the lead when it comes to batting average, hitting .322 on the season. Grand Canyon has the low staff ERA at 3.92 while Sacramento State is the top defensive team with a .978 fielding percentage. Individually, NMSU's Gunner Antillon has the top batting average at .437 and GCU's Daniel Avitia has the low ERA at 2.09. SHSU's Carlos Contreras is the lead in both hits (61) and RBIs (59) while ACU's Tatrow Grayson took over the lead in runs scored (43). CBU's Harrison Spohn is the leader in doubles (19), SHSU's Contreras is tied with SFA's Cameron Crawford for the lead in triples (5) and SAC's Cesar Valero is the current home run king with 12. On the hill, GCU's Avitia has the lead in strikeouts with 64 in 51.2 innings pitched.

 

WAC newcomer Abilene Christian is picked to win the Southwest Division while Grand Canyon has been selected to win the West Division in a vote of the league's 13 head coaches, who could not vote for their own teams. In addition, ACU outfielder Colton Eager was picked as Preseason Player of the Year and UTRGV right-hander Kevin Stevens was named Preseason Pitched of the Year.

 

In the Southwest, Abilene Christian picked up all five possible first-place votes to finish with 25 points. UTRGV earned the other first place vote and 19 points overall to tie with Sam Houston for second place. Lamar was picked fourth with 11 points, followed by Stephen F. Austin and Tarleton.

 

In the West, Grand Canyon picked up five first-place votes and 34 points to hold off Sacramento State, who also picked up a first-place vote and 30 points overall. California Baptist was picked third, garnering the final first-place vote and 27 points. NM State came in third with 20 points, followed by Dixie State with 19 points. Utah Valley was selected sixth and Seattle U rounded out the poll.

 

Eager and Stevens highlight the Preseason All-WAC squad. Eager is joined by teammates Grayson Tatrow and Tommy Cruz. GCU had five recognized as Elijah Buries, Juan Colato, Jacob Wilson, Tayler Aguilar and Carter Young all earned honors. Dixie State was represented by Kaden Hollow, Lamar was represented by Chase Kemp, NM State was represented by Kevin Jimenez, Sam Houston was represented by Coltin Atkinson and California Baptist was represented by CJ Culpepper.

 

Four new teams join the WAC this year with Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin making the move to the league from the Southland Conference. 

 

California Baptist's Chad Castillo became the first Lancer since 2006, and the first WAC player this season, to hit for the cycle as he went 4-for-7 with six RBIs and three runs scored in a 21-4 win at Air Force on April 9. He opened the game with a three-run home run in the first before adding a two-RBI triple in the second. His double came in the third and then he singled to left field in the top of the fifth to complete the cycle with plenty of baseball left to play.

 

Sacramento State freshman Colin Hunter had a memorable collegiate debut, tossing a seven-inning no-hitter against visiting Northern Illinois. After facing the minimum through the first four innings before an error let a runner on, the true freshman finished with nine strikeouts and no walks in the 8-0 victory.

 

Lamar made the most of their first game in the WAC, playing 14 innings before defeating Binghamton in the season opener on Feb. 18.

 

The 2023 season will feature two more teams as UIW and UTA will join the WAC as full member institutions, bringing the total of baseball playing institutions to 15 teams.

 

When it comes time for the 2022 WAC Baseball Tournament, the top four eligible teams from each division will head to Mesa, Ariz. The first and third place teams from each division will be placed in a four-team bracket with the second and fourth place teams from the other divisions with the winner of each double-elimintation bracket playing in a winner-takes-all championship game on Saturday night.

 

The WAC Baseball Tournament will return to Hohokam Stadium, preseason home of the Oakland Athletics. Renovated prior to spring training in 2015, improvements to Hohokam Stadium are immediately noticeable as the exterior and entrance gates has been painted and re-branded with the familiar Oakland Athletics green and gold color scheme.  The stadium also features refurbished seating, a state-of-the art scoreboard and a new and expanded clubhouse.  The bleachers along the left field and right field foul lines have been replaced with party decks. The top six teams from the WAC's regular season standings will advance to the tournament.The WAC Baseball Tournament is no stranger to the state of Arizona and the City of Mesa. The league's championship has been played in Arizona 19 times and the event hase been held in Mesa 12 times.